


I'll tell you my sins (and you can sharpen your knife)

by Octoberrose11



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Adopted Louis Tomlinson, Alternate Universe, Angst with a Happy Ending, Child Abuse, Drug Use, Fan Niall, Found Family, M/M, Minor Zayn Malik/Liam Payne, No Smut, Younger Niall Horan, niall horan is louis tomlinson's half brother, niall is a ward of ireland, niall runs a one direction twitter account, one direction does not include niall horan, will be adding tags are more chapters go up today
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-25
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:27:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 10,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21962086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Octoberrose11/pseuds/Octoberrose11
Summary: There is a strange detachment to learning that you're adopted at twenty one, like a secret you think that you have always known but never really was sure to how to bring it up. Or at least that’s what Louis thinks as he looks into the eyes of the woman who raised him.The eyes that look almost identical to his own fill with tears. “We’ve wanted to tell you for a while now, Lou, but it never seemed like a good time between the X Factor and then the band picking up like it did and well,” the tears over spill onto her cheeks. “We didn’t want to end up with you hating us.”Fat chance of that now, Louis thinks a little bitterly. He could feel the anger bubbling up in his chest.John, his (adoptive?) father chimed in, “We know this must be pretty overwhelming for you and we’re sorry to do this now when tour picks back up tomorrow but we thought it was best.” He cleared his throat. “Do you have any questions for us?”
Relationships: Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson
Comments: 5
Kudos: 38





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> so apparently even after almost a decade of using ao3 i haven't figure out the "post later" section. this fic wasn't suppose to be uploaded until January 2nd and some how I managed to mess that up so that's. Cool.
> 
> i honestly cant believe this is finally going up oh my god. this fic has been in my head for like.... three years. im going to keep this short but thank you to
> 
> moonshinelouis for making me a moodboard in their spare time. 
> 
> march-z5 for believing in my, for letting me scream fic at you all the time, for holding my hand as i write. 
> 
> finelinecassette for being there every step of the way, for crying and screaming over this fic for me, for being my actual soulmate and giving me a slap on the head every now and then when i needed it most. 
> 
> falpex for offering to beta this months ago, and becoming one of my absolute best friends. you've seen this at its best and at its worst and fic wouldn't exist if you hadnt held my hands and walked with me through the entire process. 
> 
> moonshinelouis for just being there. and letting me scream in the gc. for. well. there's so much you've done and thank you for all of them xx
> 
> and i know there's a few people im missing (you all know who you are) thank you so much for the help, the beta-ing, the holding me while i had a break downs askdfgkb. love you xx
> 
> and thank you to everyone who followed me on tumblr, for all the love and support you've shown me over the last year writing this. i love you all dearly.

There is a strange detachment to learning that you're adopted at twenty one, like a secret you think that you have always known but never really was sure to how to bring it up. Or at least that’s what Louis thinks as he looks into the eyes of the woman who raised him.

The eyes that look almost identical to his own fill with tears. “We’ve wanted to tell you for a while now, Lou, but it never seemed like a good time between the X Factor and then the band picking up like it did and well,” the tears over spill onto her cheeks. “We didn’t want to end up with you hating us.”

Fat chance of that now, Louis thinks a little bitterly. He could feel the anger bubbling up in his chest.

John, his (adoptive?) father chimed in, “We know this must be pretty overwhelming for you and we’re sorry to do this now when tour picks back up tomorrow but we thought it was best.” He cleared his throat. “Do you have any questions for us?”

He leans back in his chair, heart in his throat. “It would take years to answer all my questions,” he replied back, trying to bite back his hurt, ignoring the way they both flinched. “Just. Do you know who my birth parents are?”

And as it turns out, they do.

“Louis, I’m your biological great Uncle,” John admits after sharing an uneasy look with Marie. “Your mom is my niece and she got pregnant with you at seventeen and she knew she couldn’t raise you or give you the kind of life she wanted you to have.”

“And I can’t have kids,” his mom chimed in. “We tried Lou. For years we tried.” Her eyes fill with tears again, and the little kid within Louis had to fight against the urge to comfort his mom- the woman who had raised him.

John rubbed her shoulder in support. “It was a hard time for us,” he admits with a sad smile, “Until Jacklyn, that’s your biological mom’s name, came to us and asked if we’d consider adopting you. We of course wanted to say yes right away but said how about we help her pay costs and she could raise you but she was going to uni and honestly wanted the best for you.”

“So we agreed.” Marie cut in with a smile, bittersweet but still enough to make her eyes crinkle up. “And you were born and we signed the papers and brought you home with us, making us a family of three forever.”

“And it was the best thing we’ve ever done.” They share a sickly sweet smile, one that makes vomit rise up in his throat. It’s like they don’t even care that they’ve just shaken up his entire world.

“I can’t sit here and listen to anymore of this,” he says abruptly, pushing up from his chair. He’s shaking, hoping they don’t notice but not really caring if they do. He can’t do this.

“We only tried to do what was best for you!” His mom, his Marie says. It rings false in his ears making it hard to catch his breath, though maybe she really did believe what she was saying. Louis didn’t care.

“Don’t you want to know more?” John asks. “We haven’t even told you about your brother yet.”

That makes Louis pause in the doorway. He’s always wanted a sibling, is the thing, and even though he always told his parents he would be fine with either he may have secretly always preferred the thought of a little brother. He used to use his birthday wishes and his letters to Santa begging for his mom to have another baby and well today’s conversation explained a hell of a lot about why that never happened.

But still.

“Email Amanda,” He tosses over his shoulder, “I’ll look into it on my own. I’ve got to get away from here before we all say something we don’t mean.”

As he leaves the room Marie shoots out of her chair, calling out a “Louis!” even as she bursts into tears causing John to call out a, “Louis William you get back here!”, but he ignores them both, pulling out his phone to call a car to come and get him. Looking around he finds it almost bittersweet, wondering if he could ever find it within himself to come back. He knows deep down within himself that Marie and John had just been trying to do what was best for him but that knowledge was overtaken by the anger deep in his soul that for the first twenty two years of his life they couldn’t be bothered to tell him.

Which left the question of why now?

* * *

Zayn

* * *

When the phone rings and wakes Zayn up from his nap he’s unamused, groaning as he wiggles his toes, trying to decide if it’d be worth going back to sleep and ignoring the phone. Everyone knows that they should text him at least three hours before and let him decide if he wants to be available for a phone conversation before they just throw it at him. Liam, asleep on his chest, grumbles a little as he stretches over to the nightstand, making a triumphant noise when he reaches the phone and manages to turn it on silent.

He’s about to put it back down and hopefully go back to sleep when he sees what name is lighting up the screen.

He shakes Liam awake, ignoring the younger man’s grumbling.

“Hey Lou,” he says, pushing the speaker phone button. Liam suddenly looks less grumpy and a lot more awake, both of them knowing Louis was suppose to be at home for a break, and was going to be unreachable. Louis had wanted to tell them the good news by himself and was going to turn his phone off until he got home.

He sounded like he’d been crying when he replied, “I’m calling an emergency band meeting is there anyway I could bribe you both to come over here?”

“He’s been drinking,” Liam mouths which Zayn nods back to.

“Course Lou, uh. Is everything okay?”

“No. I’ll explain more when you get here,” the line clicks but not before they hear his loud sob.

“Oh no.”

“Oh no is right,” Zayn says in agreement, pushing Liam off of him so he could roll out of bed to get dressed. “C’mon mate, he shouldn’t be alone and who knows when Haz will get home.”

* * *

Harry, Larry House

* * *

“Baby,” Harry says dropping his day bag on their living room chair. “You’re back really early. Hello Zayn, Liam.” He nods at them before bending down to press a kiss to Louis’ forehead. “I wasn’t expecting you back from your parents until tomorrow.” Harry had also gone home to his parents, only just arriving back to try and clean the house up before they left for tour again later the next day.

Louis offered him a weak smile, throwing back a shot as he ignored the look of concern Zayn shot Liam. He had twelve shot glasses filled before him, with a half empty bottle of vodka sitting to the side.

“He called a band meeting,” Zayn explained, resting his head back into Liam’s lap. “He was drinking pretty hard when we got here, we’ve just been waiting on you.”

Harry took in the glazed look in Zayn’s eyes and the amount of cigarette butts that surrounded Liam and sighed before dropping down in the love chair. “I hope it’s not a serious band meeting since Z’s stoned- probably from the good weed Louis hid from me, and Louis drunk.” He addresses it to Liam who shrugs back at him.

“Lou didn’t say much on the phone, just to get here as soon as-”

“I’m adopted,” Louis cuts him off, before throwing another shot back.

The other three share glances, suddenly more alert. Family had always been a sore spot for Louis, and for him to open up like this was a lot.

“What?” Liam is the one to finally ask.

“I’m adopted,” Louis repeats. “My parents told me yesterday. I just- I left. I couldn’t be home.” He lets out a broken laugh. “Not that it’s home anymore.” This place, here, that he shares with Harry (and sometimes Liam and Zayn) will always be more of a home than that place ever was. Here he’s made his forever home with his forever person, he’s had family dinners with Liam and Zayn, had food fights where they’ve all been high off their rockers to the point they couldn’t remember how to get up to the bedrooms and ended up in a puppy pile on the living room floor, throwing marshmallows in each others mouths at 5am when the munchies hit. This place was his forever home, so he’s not sure why the idea of his childhood house not being home anymore hurts so much.

“Oh Lou,” Harry gets out and moves to sit next to him, pulling him into a hug, seemingly understanding the words that aren’t being said.

“They waited until our break was over, time for us to go back on our world tour to tell me I’m adopted? That I’m fucking adopted? They couldn’t be bothered to find a better time than now?” He’s filled with a rage unlike he’s ever felt before. He leans against Harry’s shoulder, his hands shaking. He’s glad, now more than ever, that Harry is able to be the calm in his storm, his rock when he needs him to be the most, even when he throws him through a loop like he had. “Twenty one years they’ve known me and they choose now?!”

Zayn and Liam exchange a glance, but Harry waves them off. If Louis wanted them here for this conversation then they should stay. They would end up finding out everything eventually anyways, not much can stay a secret in the band. When Liam and Zayn had broken up for a few hours one day, both Harry and Louis had known within ten minutes along with their entire security team, their entire stage band plus their sound team. There was no secrets in One Direction.

“So,” Zayn trails off, looking confused before the thought seems to come back to him. “So why the band meeting?” The good shit always makes him more puppy like and confused, and more than once has ended with him and Louis curled up in a ball backstage together, using each others bellies as pillows when nothing else could work.

Pulling away from Harry Louis stands up, taking long strides to the kitchen table, tapping away to pull an email from Amanda, his PA, up before he comes back, dropping his iPad on Zayn’s lap.

“Holy fuck you wanker!” He curls up, cupping his balls but everyone else ignores him, too focused on the picture Louis had pulled up. Liam taps on it to make it bigger, all three squinting to try to make the image appear clearer.

“Louis, what?” Harry reaches out, trying to grab his wrist, hoping to get him to stop pacing, but Louis shakes him off, wrapping his arms tightly around himself.

“That’s my brother,” He says, starting to pick at his lip. He can’t believe he’s even saying the words out loud, scared that if he stands still it’ll all be a dream.

“Well,” Liam begins, studying the face on the screen harder, “that’s kind of obvious babe, you look scarily alike in the face, don’t you think love?”

Zayn shrugs, laying back harder into Liam’s lap. “I don’t know mate, all you white guys start looking the same after a while.”

Harry opened his mouth to protest before shrugging it off. He does have a point after all. More than once fans have tried to point out how alike Liam and he looks before they stop paying attention.

“So what’s the big deal Lou? I can understand you being mad about them not telling you you’re adopted but this seems more like you’re agitated about your brother?”

“He’s fourteen,” Louis starts, “my birth mom got married shortly after putting me up for adoption. Amanda says I probably have more out there but I’m- anyways,” he cuts himself off before he goes on a tangent. “He’s about to become a ward of the state.”

“Why Lou?” It’s Liam that asks.

He sighs. “Amanda says his dad, who was also possibly my birth dad died when he was about seven and our mom got into some trouble and abandoned him. He’s been staying with friends.”

The other three exchanged a worried glance that Louis ignored, finally settling back down on the love seat next to Harry. He Was still picking at his lip, a nervous tick that he picked up shortly after the band was formed, and bouncing his knee.

“So I guess we’re petitioning for custody,” Harry said reaching out to squeeze Louis’ thigh.

“What if-” Louis stops, squinting his eyes to try to hold back some tears.

“Not to be the voice of reason here, but someone needs to be the voice of reason here,” Liam buts in. “Not that I’m against you trying to get custody,” he assures them, “but because I’m not sure you’re thinking this through. If Louis just found out he’s adopted what are the odds that this kid-”

“Niall,” Louis fills in.

“What are the odds that Niall knows he has an older brother, let alone a famous pop star older brother?”

“He has a point,” Louis admits. “I’ve just been,” he groans. “I’ve been so worried since Amanda told me that he was going to become a state ward. You always hear horrible things about the system and even though I logically know he’s older and bad things are less likely to happen it’s still scary, you know?”

“We’ll help you however we can,” Liam promises, poking Zayn into waking up from where he’s dozed off. “We're brothers, all you have to do is ask.”

“So where should we start?” Harry asks mischievously, opening up the email from Amanda that had all his contact info. “Stalking his Facebook or his Instagram? Oh he has a Twitter too! All too public, really. We’ll have to talk to him about that, if he agrees to come live with us.”

The email account Amanda had given them leads them to a One Direction fan twitter account, and what looks like a personal one. Harry clicks the fan account first, of course, his inner chaotic self finding a new way to escape.

@nialltommo

In this house we love and support Louis Tomlinson Only. 14. Male. Irish. None of 1D is straight.

Harry inhales a sharp laugh, the other boys trying to elbow each other out of the way to see what was so funny.

“Oh my god?”

“Tommo,” Zayn starts giggling too. “The kid runs a goddamn twitter account over you there’s no way he knows you’re related.”

“He’s going to shit himself,” Liam adds, pulling out his own phone to open up twitter too so he could scroll through the tweets at his own pace. “It looks like he’s been following us since we got put together.”

“Looks like he’s been actively been trying to get Louis’ attention for a long time too.”

“Zayn’s replied to him!”

Zayn immediately burst out with a “I never have!” Than pauses. “Did I?” Liam points to the tweet on his phone, Louis and Harry looking over his other shoulder.

@nialltommo: any chance that there will be more zouis on the new album? @zaynmalik @louistomlinson

@zaynmalik: @louistomlinson @nialltommo cant reveal too much yet ahah but me and tommo cowrote a song *side ways eye emoji*

“Holy fuck,” Harry says reading the replies to the tweet and laughing. “Lou, he’s like proper famous in his own right.”

Liam snorts. “Famous for writing Zouis fic.”

“Aww Leeyum,” Zayn hugs him close, “are you feeling jealous?”

Harry and Liam shared a look. “We know what you two get up to when you’re alone and high.”

Louis lets out a cackle. The last time they smoked up together Louis had managed to convince Zayn to see if he could suck his own dick and Harry and Liam had to come help them both get unstuck when Louis had been convinced he could do better than Zayn.

Zayn stuck his tongue out at the other three. “You’re just jealous that Lou and I won’t share the good weed with you and you know it.”

Harry shrugs. “As his husband I’m the one buying the good weed.”

“And as Harry’s best friend he shares his half with me.”

There’s a stare down, the room freezing as they take in the fact that they had in fact been sharing the good weed when Harry’s phone vibrates in his hand, breaking the silence.

“Shit.”

They’ve really fucked themselves over considering now the screen shows a mutual following between Niall and Harry.

Louis blinked down at the phone. “Shit indeed lads.” He sounds more sober than he had all afternoon, a heavy feeling settling in his stomach.

“Should we check to see what he sent then?” It was Zayn who asks, hesitantly, looking at Louis to see if he has feelings for it going either way.

“We might as well,” Louis says equally hesitant. “It would be rude not to?”

@nialltommo HOLY FUCKING SHIT  
@nialltommo I mean hi! Uh I think you’ve made a weird mistake and followed me (Hi im a huge fan!) also please don’t check out any of my tweets they’re kind of graphic  
@nialltommo you might wanna check and see if you followed anyone else by mistake too (unless this wasn’t a mistake then please say hi I’d love to talk to you)  
@nialltommo also please tell louis I love him !!

“I never expected such a calm DM from such a big fan,” Harry muses.

“I never expected anything so calm from someone related to Tommo,” Liam shoots back, ignoring Louis’ offended “Oi!”

“He sounds so mature which is something I also didn’t expect from someone related to Tommo.” Zayn adds.

Louis leans back, squeezing his arms tightly against his chest, bottom lip pushed out. “Harry, they’re being mean to me.”

Snorting out a laugh, he lets Louis snuggle deeper into his side knowing once the vodka fully hit again he’d get sleepy. “They’re just telling the truth baby, you know you can be a handful. But at any rate,” He rakes his fingers through Louis’ hair, who in turn lets out a yawn. “Do you think we should respond?”

(They choose to ignore the nineteen new tweets from Niall, each one a more progressive key smash with exclamation points, yet none directly tagging any of the boys in them. After all, they didn’t want to embarrass him any more than they might have already done.)


	2. Chapter 2

* * *

Niall

* * *

There were a few things Niall knew for sure after living on this earth for fourteen, almost fifteen years. One never trust a promise. Two nothing is ever free. Three life isn’t fair and will fuck you up the ass without preparing you first every chance it can get. Four if he ever had to attend another Catholic Mass again it would be too soon. (There’s only so many times you can lose to yourself at tic tac toe before it becomes a Problem.) 

Phil’s mom, who was being nice enough to let Niall stay with them since his mom get arrested, swatted his knee. “Stop it,” she says from the side of her mouth, eyes still facing the cross in the front of the room. 

He tried his best to hold in a sigh, but managed to get his knee to stop bouncing. 

Again, she was being very nice in letting him stay with them until his sixteenth birthday when he could legally live on his own but sometimes he wishes they would just kick him out so he could become a state ward. At least then maybe he wouldn’t have to attend Mass five days (or more) a week. 

He winces a little as the pew creaks under him as he shifts his weight, knowing she’d be saying something again about having to sit still. 

Thankfully though it looked like the service was getting ready to end and as he stood up he sneakily pulled out his phone to check for any new notifications, keeping half an eye on his surroundings to make sure he wasn’t about to get a pop on the ear again.

(Also maybe secretly hoping he’d have another DM back from Harry Styles, the one from earlier in the morning just saying thank you and that they’d talk more soon which was?? Weird, but also knowing there probably wasn’t going to be anything.)

To his surprise he had six missed calls, three new voicemails, six new twitter notifications (including a new DM it looked like), and ten emails. He almost dropped his phone, only managing to keep it in his hand when Maci sent him another disapproving look. Surprisingly, the first thought that goes through his head isn’t worried about his mom or anything, but rather wondering if another video of him doing something embarrassing had gone viral.

He pulled on his itchy shirt collar, hoping his face wasn’t as red as he thought it was. 

“I thought it was such a lovely service, what did you think boys?” She asked when they finally made it outside, her heels clacking on the concrete making Niall wince. 

“Yeah lovely,” Phil replied, sharing an eye roll with Niall. 

Niall checked his phone again, which was vibrating in his hand. “Sorry Ms. Maci, this is my mom’s lawyer, do you mind if I take it?” 

She waves him off, pulling out her own phone to check to see how far away their Uber was, mumbling something about how unreliable service from anyone anymore.

“Hi Mr. Garcia, sorry we just got out of morning mass.” 

“It’s okay son.” He pauses a beat. “Is there any chance I could get you to come to the office today? There’s something we need to go over.” 

Niall pauses, thinking it over. Technically schools out for a break and all he really has to do this afternoon is going to his old house and finish boxing stuff up and throwing all the food away, the trust fund his dad set up for him when he was a baby, ensuring the house stayed in Niall’s name. He could do it all tomorrow, everything except the milk could last at least another week. 

“That’s no problem, Mr. Gracia, I’ll call me an Uber from here and I’ll get there as soon as I can.” 

Ms. Marci turns to give him a questioning glance, no doubt thinking about the lunch that she had ready at home. 

“And tell the lady you’re staying with that I’m ordering pizza so you won’t be going hungry. She’s scary and I would prefer her to not come after me, thanks.” 

He let out a laugh, agreeing to pass the message on, wondering what was so important it couldn’t wait a few days. 


	3. Chapter 3

* * *

Louis

* * *

Once the ball had started rolling everything had begun moving faster than Louis could even imagine to try to keep up with. 

Thankfully the next leg of their tour was Europe (then Asia, and well he wasn’t emotionally prepared to think beyond Asia just yet.) And playing Europe means it was that much easier for the whole band to just stay at one of their unknown houses and reach out to the lawyer Amanda had managed to find the contact information for. 

Mr Garcia- though they were asked to just call him Trent, had been shocked when they had reached out, but excited nonetheless, urging them to come for a face to face meeting at their earliest opportunity. Louis had jumped at the chance and well, here they are a little over a week later, listening as the older man spoke to Niall. 

Harry, who kept opening and closing his twitter DM thread with Niall, reached out to squeeze his hand, sharing a secret smile. “He has an accent,” he mouthed, cheeks dimpling. 

Louis squeezed his hand back, feeling his heart do a flip flop in his chest. 

Mr. Garcia, Trent, cleared his throat, causing them both to jump, which he pretended not to notice. “You know I always knew there was another Matthews child, in fact there’s several other Matthews children out there, but I’m surprised one of you managed to find me and reach out. After all, all of your adoption files are sealed and all of the adoptive parents agreed to put into place no contact agreements.” 

Well that answered Louis’ question about why he had a) never met his birth mom and b) had never heard about her before now.

“And I have to say, Mr. Tomlinson-“

“Please, call me Louis.”

Trent nods in agreement. “Alright Louis. Now I have to admit that once you contacted us we did a full background check which came back clear, though there is a record here of you being banned from a country because of a,” he picks up a piece of paper and squints at it, “viral video of you and a friend smoking weed?”

Harry lets out a snort, which he quickly tries to cover with a cough, face turning red in an effort to make himself seem more mature and not risk being turned down for custody.

“With the clear background check you are eligible to gain full custody, as long as Niall agrees to it. However I still have some questions that I would like to ask before Niall gets here in,” he looks at his watch, “about half an hour.”

“Of course, we’re more than willing to answer them the best we can.”

“Why now?” Trent asks, leaning forward in his chair. “Niall’s been on his own for months now and no one in the family has reached out with any interest in him before now. He gets his trust soon, which I’m not at liberty to talk about the amount in it or anything else it includes, but I have to remind you that even when he becomes of age you can not touch it and you don’t have the right to demand any of it.”

“Well,” Louis thinks of all the media training they’ve been given, thinks about how he could spin it to make a lie seem like the truth before he decides fuck it, and answers it best he can. “I’m sure from doing the background check you learned that we’re in a band, so I can assure you that we’re not interested in any money or anything like that.”

Trent nods. “My daughters, as well as Niall, are huge fans.”

Harry shakes his head. “Yeah we found Niall’s Twitter account. He’s un? Dedicated.” Harry tries not to think about some of the uh more sexually inclined fan art Niall had in his Twitter likes, especially since it contained more than one orgy between the four of them.

“Anyways,” Louis continues, ignoring the interruption, “my adoptive parents decided to tell me I was adopted a few weeks ago. Up until then I had no idea. I look so much like them, you see, so it took all of us by surprise. I guess I should say all of us as in me and Haz, and our bandmates Liam and Zayn.

“And my assistant and lawyers got a hold of my adoption records and managed to get then unsealed, which was a lot easier considering they’re related to her and I have a hell of a lot of money, and then it was just a matter of time before they found out about Niall. Our PI, can move really fast when he wants to.”

Trent frowned. “It is true most of her adoptions happened in family.”

Louis nodded. “Amanda, my assistant, said it’s possible that there’s at least four more of us, and that it was possible that her family used her as a breeding dog, considering it seems that all of her aunts and uncles got at least one kid.”

“It is possible,” Trent admits. “I’ve been her parents lawyer for longer than either of you have been alive, and I know that might be hard to believe, but there is a lot of shady shit, pardon my language, shady stuff that went down between her and her parents.”

“How did she manage to keep Niall?” Harry asked, leaning back in his chair. His grip on Louis’ hand tightened.

“She got out from under her parents thumb,” he replied. “She married Jeffry, Niall’s dad, who her parents didn’t approve of and they disowned her.

“Of course he was her second husband. Her first was a friend of her dad, twice her age. He died of a heart attack around their fifth wedding anniversary. Now, I just have a couple more questions for you, if you don’t mind?”

“Of course not.”

“What is your goal here?”

Louis took a moment to think about it, really think about it. “We want custody.” Harry’s hand tightened again. “We’d love for him to come live with us. I’ve always wanted a brother and it’s like one just fell out of the sky, just for me.”

“And if Niall doesn’t want that?”

“Then I hope he’d at least be willing to let us come visit us whenever we can, or even fly him out to us if he’d like. I want to be in his life however he’s willing to let me be.” That, at least, was easy to answer.

“And you’d be willing to cart him around the world with you? Pulling him from school?”

Harry smiled. “I think, given who we are and how much we’d be willing to pay, that we could easily find someone to come tutor him if he’d want to come on tour with us. If not then I have an older sister who could come live in one of our homes with him while he goes to school. Hell if he wanted to stay here Gemma would be more than willing to let us buy a house here and come stay.”

The phone on his desk rings, interrupting them. “Yes Alyssa? He asks, pressing the button for the speaker phone.

“Mr. Horan is on his way up,” there’s a smile in her voice, evident that the whole firm had a soft spot for the boy.

“Thank you, we will be waiting for him.”


	4. Chapter 4

* * *

Niall

* * *

There was no denying that Niall was annoyed, and he was sure even Mr. Garcia’s secretary, who kept throwing him concerned looks, could tell. Not only did the Uber ride take twice as long as it should have (the driver got “lost”) but then when they arrived the whole front street was closed. When he finally managed to make it inside he was patted down, finger printed and he had to hand his phone over.

(Once they had verified he was who he claimed to be he got it back, of course, but it was the principle of the matter)

There was something going on and he really wasn’t amused. Even just trying to get on the elevator resulted in four separate phone calls, each one causing Alyssa to send him more and more concerned looks.

He finally pulled out his phone, wanting to read through some of his notifications when Alyssa cleared her throat. “Mr. Garcia said you can head on in Niall,” she smiled at him. “And try not to freak out too badly okay?”

“Freak out?” he asks, but she had already turned her attention back to her computer, presumably fixing Mr. Garcia’s schedule, it seemed like the whole floor was on lock down.

The walk to his office was a familiar one, one that he had taken many times in his life even before he mom was arrested.

“Knock knock,” he says alerting Mr. Garcia to his presence, the older man looking up as a big smile crosses his face.

“Niall, come on in son.” His eyes twinkle and Niall immediate feels uneasy, shifting back as if to leave when he adds, “I’m sure you know Louis Tomlinson and Harry Styles?”

There was movement out of the corner of his eye so he turned and looked. And of course there right in front of him stood two of his heroes. (If he wasn’t trying so hard to play it cool while internally screaming he would have burst into tears which would not have been cool to do in front of them.)

A thousand and one thoughts started going his head, the first one being if it would be weird to ask Louis for a hug- when he noticed how the older man was looking back at him, a mix of awe and sadness and longing? Okay a little weird but whatever.

Mr. Garcia cleared his throat, bringing Niall’s attention back to him. “I’m sure you have a lot of questions Niall, and we have a lot to talk about so why don’t you take a seat?”

He drops down into his usual chair, a grey beanbag chair that had a weighted blanket on it, uneasy with all of Louis’ attention focused on him.

“So,” Mr. Garcia said, “we have a lot of things to talk about Niall, like I said. If you have any questions or get confused at any time stop me and let me know okay?”

He nods, growing even more uneasy reminding him of the conversation they’d had when his dad died. “Am I in trouble?” It would be a little weird for him to be in trouble, considering he hadn’t done anything lately but maybe Louis or Harry had gotten offended by something on his twitter?

“No of course not. No one’s in trouble son. In fact, I would say this is rather some really good news.”

“Good news that involves One Direction?” Niall asks, still side eyeing Louis.

Mr. Garcia ignores the question and leans forward. “Tell me Niall, what do you know about your mother?”


	5. Chapter 5

* * *

Louis 

* * *

In the few weeks since he had learned that he was adopted, and that he had siblings out there, Louis hadn’t truly let himself feel excited. He was, of course, very excited. Not that Liam and Zayn didn’t count as siblings because they did, you can’t go through even half the shit that they’ve gone through together without forming an emotional attachment deeper than most siblings shared. This, however, was different. This was someone he shared DNA with, who shared blood and who needed him.

Watching Niall move and think was something else completely. For one it seemed like they shared a lot of nervous ticks, which melted Louis’ heart and had Harry letting out an “aw” under his breath, watching Niall pick at his lip.

“I mean,” Niall says, “I guess I know what anyone knows about their mom? I never did meet her parents, and she talked about a big family but I never met any of them.” He let out a sad laugh. “I kind of eh, I kind of just thought she was always ashamed of me so she never wanted me around them?” Niall shifts, his left knee starting to bounce as he shoots a quick look at them, before turning his attention back to the floor.

“Oh love,” Louis couldn’t help but say, squeezing his eyes shut. He could feel Niall’s gaze on him, curious and seemingly searching but he knew he couldn’t- shouldn’t- say anything, that he should let Trent handle it.

“Okay,” the older man nodded, “your mom had a pretty rough childhood, did you know that Niall?” He smiles at Niall’s frown. “It’s not my place to explain it all, and you really shouldn’t know all about it right now, maybe when you’re older but.” He sighs. “Let me try this again. We found some more family for you Niall, you don’t have to stay with you friends anymore, or become a ward of the state if you don’t want to.”

“You see,” Louis says when Trent nods at him, placing his arms on his knees, trying to avoid the star struck look Niall gives him, “my parents sat me down the other day and told me some things. I’m adopted, apparently?” It still felt weird coming out of his mouth. “And when I looked into my birth family well, I found you.”

“And,” Harry adds, with another squeeze to his hand, “we found Mr. Garcia who explained exactly what was going on.”

“Of course you could say no, there’s no pressure,” he hurries on to add, “but I’ve always grown up wanting a bigger family so Haz and I-“

Niall frowned at them all. “What the hell are you trying to say?”

“We’re brothers Niall.” Louis smiles at him, “or half brothers.” He shrugs, suddenly self conscious. “Not that there’s a half between us, really. We’re brothers, even if we don’t share the same father.” 

“And if it’s okay with you, we’d really like it if you came home with us.”

The three of them stare at him, seemingly awaiting a response that Niall doesn’t even know how to begin to give.

“Niall?” Mr. Garcia says, growing more concerned.

“You don’t have to say anything right now,” Louis hurries to reassure him, though it seems like his heart isn’t in it.

“No,” Niall burst out, seemingly even surprising himself. “No. If you…” he swallows. “If you really want me to, I’ll come.”

Mr. Garcia claps his hands, a wide smiling breaking across his face. “Excellent, excellent.”

* * *

  
  


Larry’s House

Louis 

* * *

  
  


It’s late at night, late enough that they both really should be asleep but early enough that Louis won’t be cranky the next day.

“Do you think he likes his room?” Louis’ voice finally breaks the silence, his own voice breaking with it.

In the weeks it had taken for their custody appeal to be approved they had both worked their asses off to have at least three of their houses equipped with a fully furnished and decorated bedroom for Niall. Trent, Mr. Garcia, had kept warning them that Niall was going to end up spoiled at the rate they’re going but Louis couldn’t help himself.

Niall had grown up with next to nothing, even if his dad’s life insurance would be his when he reached twenty one, Louis wanted to give him the world and anyone who though he shouldn’t could get fucked.

“I think he loves it Lou,” Harry reached across and squeezed his hands.

“Did we over do it?”

“Deffo,” they share a laugh, Louis trying his hardest to muffle his into Harry’s chest. “He was so excited to have a dresser Lou, a dresser.”

There’s sadness there, shared between them. The younger boy, earlier that day, had walked in his room in the Doncaster house, while they watched with bated breath, excited to see what he thought about the decorations and some of the exclusive One Direction merch they had gotten for him, early, ignoring the teasing fromLou Teasdale and other team members for owning merch of their own faces.

He’s skipped over all of that, his eyes wide, running his hands all over his new desk and dresser.

“I’ve never owned a dresser before,” he said thoughtfully, reaching over to once again touch his desk. “And my mom- mom sold my desk for drugs years ago.”

They had shared another glance then, hearts in their throats.

“I knew things had been bad for him,” Louis says, squeezing Harry’s hand, “but to hear just how bad makes me angry. He shouldn’t have been that excited over furniture, shit his mom should have been providing for him!”

“Shh. Shhhh. I know Lou, we’ve got to be quiet though, we don’t want to risk waking him up.”

Louis takes a couple of deep breaths, knowing Harry was right. They had tucked him in earlier, much to Niall’s embarrassment, and had reminded him which bedroom was the master’s and that if he needed them in the middle of the night to go ahead and knock and come in, but both knowing he wouldn’t, still a mix between starstruck and scared of them deciding to go ahead and give him up, but when they had checked on him an hour later he was sleeping, curled up like Louis did, a troubled look on his face.

“It’s just not right,” Louis continues, lowering his voice down to a whisper, “He-“ he huffs out a breath. “We got him a laptop for school, games and all kinds of things to make him feel like a normal teen but he didn’t even see them.” Against his wishes a tear falls down his face. And then another one.

“It’s just not fair,” he sobs out, squeezing his eyes shut trying to hold back the rest of his tears. “And I know I said I would have done anything to have known and been raised by my birth mom but at least my parents took care of me Haz. At least I knew I was loved.”

Harry’s quick to cut him off. “He’s got us now, babe. He’s got us and he has Liam and Zayn, and my parents and Gemma and even my step siblings. Hell, even Karen Payne will try to adopt him if he’d let her.

“He’s going to know love, babe. The early part of his life might have been hard and bad but we’re going to love him and be there for him the rest of his life. I promise you.”


	6. Chapter 6

* * *

Niall

* * *

Niall knows he shouldn’t be listening, knows the he should knock on the door and ask if he’s allowed to go and get a drink of water but Louis is crying, sobbing from the sounds of it, and he feels guilty.

Louis Tomlinson, from One Direction, should never be crying and to know he’s crying because of him? Is honestly the shittiest feeling.

Niall had tried his hardest not to let on just how bad his life had been with his mom. He’d had food on the table, and she’d never beaten him so he’d always tried to keep his mouth shut. After all there were so many people who had it worse than he did.

Even on his Tumblr and Twitter accounts he would play off just how badly things had been getting. All of his fic writing and picture edits he’d make at public libraries and even friends houses when they’d let him.

“Niall?”

He blinks, shaken out of his inner thoughts, hand still raised to knock on the closed bedroom door, looking up to find Harry in front of him.

“Niall, did you need something hun?”

“Huh? Oh yeah, is it okay if I get a glass of water? My mom was weird about it so I’m used to drinking out of the bathroom sink but it’s not really my favorite thing-“

Harry lets out a sad, broken noise, taking hold of Niall’s hand, before leading him into the kitchen. Harry opens the cabinet for a glass before dropping Niall’s hand, and begins to fill the glass with ice and water,

“You never have to ask here Niall,” Harry explains, “anything we have is yours now too. Please, would you sit with me?”

Niall takes a seat, suddenly feeling uncomfortable, wondering if this was the conversation where they tell him what they expect in repayment. He fiddles with his glass of water, watching Harry buzz around the kitchen, making himself what looks like a cup of coffee.

When he catches him looking, Harry offers him a shy smile. “Lou,” he says with a love sick sigh, “isn’t the tea snob that the media tries to make him out to be, but I’m sure you know that. However, he isn’t the biggest fan of the smell of coffee at four am and sometimes time zones start to mess with me and I need a quick pick me up. You won’t tell on me will you?”

Niall’s quick to shake his head, not wanting the older man to get mad at him. They haven’t gotten mad at him yet, but there’s always a first time for anything.

Harry sits down across from him, his chair squeaking across the floor making Niall wince. “Sorry,” he says apologetically. “It’s a lot to take in, isn’t it?” He switches topics, staring into his cup as he swishes his coffee around. “I mean, I can’t even begin to imagine you’ve been a fan of the band for so long.”

Niall blushes, a little overwhelmed. “I still can’t believe you saw my Twitter, I had hoped you guys never would have found it.”

“It’s cute,” Harry interjects. “It’s nice, you know? We have some of the best fans in the world, not to say there aren’t some bad ones out there too but for the most part everyone loves us and respects us and to see that you’ve found a community who also loves and supports you because of us is amazing. But still.”

“It’s…. nice.” Niall settles on, shyly. “I’ve never had to hide anything about anything, really, except how bad things started to get at home. And I know that if I had told someone they would have rallied around me and done their best to support me.”

“But you’re just a kid. And so are they.”

“I’m nearly the same age as you when One Direction formed.”

“Nearly,” Harry gives him. “But those two years can change a whole lot of things. And I also had my parents, and my step dad, and hell I even had my older sister doing her best to support me and love me and guide me in the right way. But we’re getting off topic here.

“I know it must have been really hard to have been a fan of the band for so long then lose your mom and then a big brother drops in your lap suddenly and oh shit! He’s also Louis Tomlinson from One Direction, who just happens to be your favorite member.”

Niall shrugs, messing around with the ice in his cup. Harry explained it all perfectly, there was no reason to argue or explain his point of view if Harry knew it all already.

“I’m sure it’s also hard though, huh?” Harry says thoughtfully.

Niall looks up, eyes wide.

“Louis….” Harry trails off. “You know I fell in love with Louis to  _ What Makes You Beautiful.  _ I know the fans like to say we fell in love at bootcamp but I think that was just a crush really. Everything could have been taken from us at a moments notice, and we all knew that. And I think we all lived in that fear, but secretly you know?

“We all knew what each other was feeling but we’re teenage boys, we didn’t want to show weakness to each other. We had to be strong for each other and to an extent Louis, as the oldest, felt like he had to be even stronger than the rest of us. Which is total bullshit- I mean crap, I promised Louis I would try to stop cursing so much it’s not going well- but anyways. We all knew that we all had the same fears, you know? But we didn’t want to admit that we felt them.

“And Louis,” another fond sigh, “he’s amazing you know? But he’s also a dick, and sometimes I want to throttle him as much as I love him. We both share a need to be the center of attention and in the past he would do anything in his power to get it. He’s loud and bigger than life. He’s not tiny but he’s small you know? Dainty. But he has this presence that’s so  _ big _ that you forget he’s not ten feet tall.

“He’s loyal to a fault but will call you on your bullshit if he thinks he needs to. He loves with his whole heart and will fight anyone and everyone who ever tries to hurt the people he loves. He’d go to war for you if you’re passionate about something, even if he knows you’re wrong.”

They finally make eye contact, Harry putting his cup of coffee down. “I bet you wonder why I’m telling you all of this,” he says suddenly, the conversation going off the direction Niall thought it was.

Still, Niall nods.

“Again, I fell in love with him fast and deep, perhaps sixteen should have been too young to find a soulmate like I did. But when Louis decides he loves you he’s going to always love you. And I know, we both know, that you’re scared that we’re going to change our minds and send you packing, that you’re going to end up on the streets again.

“But Niall? We picked  _ you _ . From the moment we learned about you we’ve loved you, and that love has doubled since we met you. And we know one day, perhaps sooner then we’d like, you’re going to decide to move out and make a life of your own and even though that’s a few years off still we’re still already mourning you leaving.

“we love you more than I think we’ve ever loved anyone. And I know you may not believe it right now but we’re going to keep loving you until you understand.”

Niall blinks again, thinking it over. “It’s hard,” he finally says. “I think the only one who ever loved me was my dad and he died,” a tear falls down his cheek, which he angrily brushes away. He refuses to cry over his situation.

“I know,” Harry offers in sympathy. “And I know nothing I say can really make any of this better. But I can promise we both will be here for you, loving you and willing to listen when and if you ever want to talk about it.” He throws back the rest of his coffee. “Now I’m off to bed for real, Louis gets grumpy if he wakes up without me.”

“Good night,” Niall offers softly, deep in thought.

He had of course wondered why Louis and Harry would decide to seek out custody. Louis kept talking about how excited he was to find out he had a younger brother, while at the same time talking about how bitter he was discovering he was adopted (not that Niall could blame him.)

He shakes himself off and quickly finishes his water before dragging himself back upstairs to his new bedroom.

He hadn’t really taken the time earlier to look at the room as a whole, so overwhelmed by his new desk and dresser. 

In one of the very first conversations they had, they had played a question and answer game with him (though Niall had quietly tried to point out that it wasn’t exactly fair as they had been in hundreds of magazines, radio and tv shows and wouldn’t Niall know most everything there was to know about them? Louis had snort laughed while Harry had explained that sometimes the four of them made up stories about each other to see if anyone ever caught on.) In the game they’d asked him what his favorite color was, to which he had answered, slightly embarrassed, purple. 

They’d gone all out. His bedding was a deep purple color that just almost matched his childhood blankets. 

He shrugs it off, knowing he isn’t going to be able to sleep anytime soon so he sits down at his new desk, with his new computer (which he feels slightly guilty about, wondering how much the men had spent on him) but opens up Twitter anyways. 

He finds several DMs on Twitter, mostly from some friends wondering where he’d gone, and a message with a request got a commission that looked pretty promising. Of course Harry and Louis had promised to pay for everything but Niall would feel better, and more secure, if he had something to contribute. 

One of the group chats that he’s in on Twitter is popping off, the other boys (and one girl, can’t forget to mention her) noticing that Niall has appeared back online for the first time in a while. 

He just sends back a simple reply of, “Skype in five?” that the others agree to, knowing he owes them an explanation for disappearing for months on end. He doesn’t know how he’s going to manage to give one. 

So he lies. He smiles sweetly at his friends, lying through his teeth, crying a little when he admitted that his home life had gone to shit and that he was technically in foster care, his best friend’s sad eyes watching him across the monitor screen. 


	7. Chapter 7

* * *

The next morning

Louis’ POV

* * *

  
  
  


Coffee was the only thing on the earth that Louis didn’t hate at seven in the morning on tour days, especially tour days that involve traveling, and when you add time zone changes it got even worse. Still, he smiles his thanks to Harry, who slides another cup of coffee to him, the other man offering a smirk as he throws it back like a shot, sputtering as he burns his mouth. 

It’s a quiet morning, which Louis is thankful for. It’s going to be a long hectic day as it is and adding a hurried morning into the mix would be cause for a disaster. They had checked on Niall, only to find him sleeping peacefully, One Direction’s latest album playing softly in the background as he cuddled his stuffed owl. 

“Is this what it’s going to be like when we have kids?” He asks Harry, hooking his leg around the other’s ankle. “Quiet mornings while the kids sleep? And then them turning into demons when it’s time to wake them up for tour?” 

Harry laughs, a little nervous. “Let’s just start for the one right now huh babe?” 

There’s a sound from the doorway, causing them both to turn and look. For as much as Niall insists that he’s an adult, and would like for them to treat him as such, he looks like a little kid, his owl (from his dad) tucked under one arm as he rubs sleep out of his eyes. Harry stands up, making the younger boy his own cup of coffee, the way he said he liked it.

“Morning Nialler,” Niall blinks sleepily back at him, before dropping into the chair across from Louis, who grunts a welcome to Niall. 

“What am I supposed to tell people?” Niall asks, suddenly, breaking the silence, smiling a small smile of thanks to Harry as he hands him a cup of coffee. 

“What do you mean love?” Harry asks, reclaiming his seat across from Louis. 

“What am I supposed to tell people?” He asks again, frustrated. “I was talking to some friends last night on Skype and,” his cheeks turn pink in shame, “I had to tell them where I’d been and that, you know my mom wasn’t the best person and they got concerned when I told them I had been almost placed in foster care and they wanted to know where I was now. 

“But,” he starts speaking faster, leaving Louis blinking at him in shock, “I can’t very well tell them that I’m living with One Direction can I?” 

Louis throws back another mouthful of coffee, before placing his cup on the table with a sigh. “I don’t see any reason you couldn’t.” He yawns, still not fully awake. “It is going to be public knowledge soon enough that we’ve gotten custody of you and probably even sooner than that given that you’re going on tour with us and nothing stays secret on tour with the way Liam tries to vlog everything anymore.” 

Harry pulls back offended. “If anyone is going to break the news before TMZ does it’s going to be me posting a picture of us on Instagram.” 

Louis and Niall both blink at him as he continues to mumble to himself, thinking out loud about how the best way to go about posting the picture would be before Louis cuts him off with a sigh. 

“I’m going to be the one breaking the news about Niall,” he shoots Harry a look when he begins to pout, “unless Niall would be the one to do so. Niall, of course you are allowed to tell people you live with us if you want to. I know we’re close enough in age that Harry and myself won’t ever be like parents to you or whatever,” he waves his hands, “but there’s going to be rules if only to keep you safe and us safe. We’ve got some wild fans, as I’m sure you know.” 

Niall blushes, as he himself used to be a wild fan (though he could safely admit he’d never stalked them.) 

“I just…” Niall pauses for a moment, “I just don’t want to make you guys mad at me, or even worse make things harder for you.” He wraps his arms around himself, his owl hitting his chin as he does so. “But I also don’t want to lie to my friends.” 

Pulling out his phone Louis starts tapping away, ignoring trying to sooth Niall in the background. 

Niall’s phone pings inside his pocket, his cheeks lighting up with a blush when he realizes what the notification is. 

_ Louiswtomlinson has posted  _

“Well go on lad,” Louis says, eyes crinkling as Harry pulls out his phone too, laughing as both of the younger men gawking down at the picture. 

It’s nothing special really, a picture of the back of Niall’s head, him asleep on the living room couch from what looks like one of their first overnight visits, there’s a package of popcorn by his feet. Harry is looking right at Niall, not at Louis who had taken the picture, and just out of frame you can see Rugrats in Paris playing. 

Under the picture there’s a caption that Louis is proud to have come up with, something he could show off his writing skills, and part of his heart. 

_ A while ago I learned some truths about myself, truths I never would have expected and I appreciate the time and love you have given me to handle it. These kind of truths that are a little uncomfortable and you sometimes wonder if you would have been better off never knowing. However, with the news of me being adopted came the news that I’m an older brother! I’ve always wanted a younger sibling and through some digging I found my birth mother. Without getting into too many details it was a difficult task. My birth mom isn’t in the best situation so Harry and I asked for custody of my brother, N. He’s the sweetest kid and we love him with all our hearts, which is why we’re announcing this now. N will be joining us on tour. We’re lucky and excited to have him and want to make sure everyone treats him kindly and with respect. Thank you for all the love and support you give us with everything we do. Love, Lou. _

Louis shrugs, though no one sees it. “You two wouldn’t stop arguing so someone had to be the one to take the first step.” 

Louis’ phone buzzes on the table, Zayn’s name appearing. “I’m going to go take this,” he says with a sigh. “You two finish breakfast, we’ve got to leave in an hour.” 


	8. Chapter 8

* * *

Ten years later

* * *

“Mexico! It has been so incredibly amazing to be here with you tonight. I remember when I was first here, about nine years ago now,” the cheering in the crowd grows louder. “I was here with my best friend, my big brother, and his band that had taken over the entire world. According to the sound of your screams,” the girls in front of him started screaming louder, “they still hold a very special place in all of your hearts.”

“Through the support of my brother, and his husband, and his band mates, I’m glad I got the courage to put myself out there and write this album for you. So with that said, it’s my privilege and honor to announce tonight-.” 

Liam appears behind him, the screams from the crowd growing longer as Zayn also appears, saving the microphone from Niall with a laugh, even as Liam throws the younger man over his shoulder, acting like he was still the fourteen year old boy they had met some many years before. 

“One Direction’s back baby!” Zayn shouts, even as the stadium explodes into more noise, Louis and Harry running out to meet them. 

It had taken a long time to get here, a lot of healing on everyone’s end. But here, now, with the five of them squished together, and an entire arena filled with screaming fans (and okay, the occasional bored looking dad) they knew they had finally found their home. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there's going to be a part two to this fic, where it follows them on tour and other such things. i spent way too long with this fic this year and i'm still not really happy with the way things ended but. I hope you enjoyed the fic anyways. 
> 
> see you in 2020 for my big bang fic
> 
> all the love, lee

**Author's Note:**

> so heres the funny story. i used to be iliveinliamscurls on tumblr but i actually have changed blogs so please come be my friend on youandicouldliveforever i promise i'm a lot cooler over there and only scream like twice a day. if twitter is more your speed im also there @leewithme


End file.
